Wayland Town Crier 2/11/10: Library exhibit highlights special place in Wayland. For many of us who live in Wayland, the Town Beach on Lake Cochituate is a special place indeed. I’m particularly partial to the boat launch area, which is beyond the picnic grove to the left of the entrance. It’s quiet. There’s not a lot of annoying sand. And, best of all, the sun sets directly opposite the shore, making it an absolutely exquisite spot in the early evening.

Parkland Drive resident Paul Dale discovered the magic of the Town Beach nearly 30 years ago, when he moved to the community and his small daughters began playing there. As time went by, he began walking his dogs by the lake and grew more and more enchanted.

A computer software specialist by profession, Dale is also an accomplished mountaineer – rocks and ice are his favorites. “I’ve climbed in the Italian, French and Swiss Alps, British Columbia, Nepal, in the Tetons, the High Sierras, and the Cascades. And I always took a lot of pictures. So, one day about 10 years ago when I was down at the Town Beach, I decided that, since it was so accessible – virtually any time of the day and at any season – I should be taking pictures there too.”

Many of the resulting photos are now part of a handsome exhibit in the library’s Raytheon Room titled “Light at the Lake.”